Need some computer advice

[Alvin_Wilson]

My desktop runs really slow and I want to speed things up. I'm not very knowledgable when it comes to computer stuff. Dell desktop with Windown XP. What do I need to make it faster? More memory? Any help is appreciated.

Alvin

EDIT: I know that is not much info, but like I said, I'm pretty computer illiterate.

[FlyingSkull]

Simple things to do are check hard drive space. When XP gets down to less than 1 GB of HD then it crawls. Also could be Spyware related if you are on the web. Check out Malwarebytes or AdAware free software...

Run a Defrag and Scandisk. Right click your Hardrive in My Computer and go to Properties and Tools.

Sometimes especially if your PC is a few years old the buildup of software being installed and removed along with web activity just fills the Registry and your HD needs to be wiped and XP reinstalled fresh. You would be amazed how many times I have done this for people and it's like a new computer. Hope this helps you!

[Wylde06]

You could put some more RAM in it. RAM doesn't cost that much either, last time I checked. You just need to know what kind of RAM is in the computer first.

[Cleveland Metal]

Bear in mind, you may have some nasties slowing your PC down.

I'd likely run a scan with maybe the free version of MalwareBytes antispyware, or Superantispyware.

I'd also download CCleaner, and clean the registry and temp files. THAT is a great free program that gets a lot of crap out of the registry that old programs leave.

I used to be a Spybot / Adaware guy. I still use them, especially run Spybot as I like the HOST file that it installs which helps keep you out of known malicious websites. But I find the ones I mentioned earlier more effective for scans. And they find rootkit stuff the others don't. Might not remove some, but it finds it.

[Alvin_Wilson]

Excellent, thank you guys.

[LouSiffer]

Agree with all of the above, RAM, defrag, registry repair/cleaner, maybe even back up your important files and re-install fresh. This may be less time consuming than all the other stuff with the best results.

If you are using an anti-virus program, use the free AVG.....it seems to be the least resource intensive and slows down the boot-up the least. -Lou

[Ben...]

What do you have for an anti-virus/ security suite? It's amazing how much those can bog down your computer. If you have Macafee or Norton you should maybe should consider getting something else like AVG Free or Avast!. I've never used AVG but I've heard it's great. Avast! is amazing and it's dropped my RAM usage by about 10%. Plus it yells at you when there is an alert like an intrusion attempt or it gets updated.

As John mentioned, CCleaner does a great job on registry and junk files. I cleared 8 gigs of junk files off of my main PC and over 1900 (!) registry errors on my laptop (over 1000 were from Norton Antivirus, which I ditched for Avast! and have not regretted.).

Also, check what processes and services (Press Control + Alt + Delete) are on. Sometimes there can be more than one running for the same thing if it didn't update right. You can also set them so that they do or don't start when you turn on your computer. I set a lot of them to manual so I have to turn them on and it speeds things up quite a bit, especially on startup. Just be careful what you disable. A general rule of thumb is to not turn off anything you aren't sure about. If you don't know you can just ask and we can help you. NEVER disable Explorer.exe because that stops Windows. Don't turn off your antivirus software either or any drivers. They're usually named after the program (Macafee had Mc at the start of every program and Norton had the full name in everything).

Here's some links to things I've been talking about:

http://www.avast.com/

http://free.avg.com/

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Just ask if you need help with anything.

[Wylde06]

Agree with all of the above, RAM, defrag, registry repair/cleaner, maybe even back up your important files and re-install fresh. This may be less time consuming than all the other stuff with the best results.

or a backup, fresh install, and new RAM...if you wanted to go that route.

I know when I was forced to reinstall windows, I was glad I did...everything ran, and still does run, so much faster

[FlyingSkull]

Good points from all, I found sometimes running in safe mode, then using your anti Malware app can be effective too, as the spyware/trojan/virus can't access certain Windows processes in safe mode!

[Spivonious]

+1 for the spyware scanning and running CCleaner. Also, go through Add/Remove Programs and uninstall anything you don't use.

Also, to give us some info, can you go to Control Panel and double-click System. Then tell us what's listed there (RAM amount, processor model and speed, etc.). Finally, after the system has been running for a while and you've done your normal tasks with it, right-click on the Taskbar and choose Task Manager. Navigate to the Performance tab and post the number listed as "Peak".

I prefer to run without antivirus, but if you do choose to run one, Avast! and Free-AVG are good choices. The newest version of Norton is actually not half-bad, but definitely stay away from McAfee. We just switched to that at work due to an order from corporate and it is a resource hog. We're having to upgrade the RAM in all of our machines just to get back to the amount free we had before.

Oh, and if you do decide to add more RAM, make sure you find out what's in it first. If you tell us the processor model, we should be able to provide you with the type of RAM you need.

[OnlineStageGear]

+1 for the spyware scanning and running CCleaner. Also, go through Add/Remove Programs and uninstall anything you don't use.

Also, to give us some info, can you go to Control Panel and double-click System. Then tell us what's listed there (RAM amount, processor model and speed, etc.). Finally, after the system has been running for a while and you've done your normal tasks with it, right-click on the Taskbar and choose Task Manager. Navigate to the Performance tab and post the number listed as "Peak".

I prefer to run without antivirus, but if you do choose to run one, Avast! and Free-AVG are good choices. The newest version of Norton is actually not half-bad, but definitely stay away from McAfee. We just switched to that at work due to an order from corporate and it is a resource hog. We're having to upgrade the RAM in all of our machines just to get back to the amount free we had before.

Oh, and if you do decide to add more RAM, make sure you find out what's in it first. If you tell us the processor model, we should be able to provide you with the type of RAM you need.

+1 except for for the Norton.

Matt

[Ben...]

I prefer to run without antivirus, but if you do choose to run one, Avast! and Free-AVG are good choices. The newest version of Norton is actually not half-bad,

Yeah, it's nine halves bad. Totalling 4.5 total units of sheer badness. It eats RAM like I eat Kraft Dinner. (Which is a lot. I'm making some right now.)

[DonP]

On your desktop there should be a My Computer icon. Right click it, go to properties. Tell us the processor type speed, etc, and the ram information.

Then open your Window Explorer (file explorer), right click your C: drive, and tell us the size and how much space is available.

[Alvin_Wilson]

On your desktop there should be a My Computer icon. Right click it, go to properties. Tell us the processor type speed, etc, and the ram information.

Then open your Window Explorer (file explorer), right click your C: drive, and tell us the size and how much space is available.

I'll do that this evening. Thanks, again.

[Alvin_Wilson]

On your desktop there should be a My Computer icon. Right click it, go to properties. Tell us the processor type speed, etc, and the ram information.

Then open your Window Explorer (file explorer), right click your C: drive, and tell us the size and how much space is available.

Dell Dimension 4600, Pentium 4 2.80 GHZ, 256 MB of RAM

C:drive = 70.9 GB, free space = 25.4 GB